Vale Council Tax still well below Welsh average - 15/02/07
The Vale of Glamorgan Council has approved a Council Tax rise
of 5%.
The £19.3m budget for 2007/08 will mean an average Band D rate
of £792.81 (excluding police and community council precepts), an
increase on the current year of £37.71.
It is anticipated that, even with the proposed increase, the
Vale's Council Tax for 2007/08 will still be well below the Welsh
average.
The budget package includes proposals for efficiency savings of
£3.45m – 2% of the budget – and plans to bring the social services
budget back within balance in three years, with overspending
reduced by £2m annually over that period.
Cllr Moore commented: "Social services expenditure is under
particular pressure and, in order to bring in these safe measures
to reduce the overspend, we have allowed a temporary uplift of
£3.64m.
"Obviously some urgent changes will be necessary to achieve this
target but these have to be made without having a major impact on
people in greatest need."
Schools' budgets are given a 5.2% increase in line with the
Welsh Assembly rate support grant – the second highest to any
council in Wales; more than £4m will be spent on improving school
buildings, and there will be investment of £4.8m capital on
improving Visible Services and £2m in the Penarth Central Renewal
Area.
Acknowledging that it would be a "challenging year," in which
"everyone will be required to play his or her part," Cllr Moore
added: "I consider this to be a prudent and achievable budget which
will help deliver our ultimate aim of efficient, effective and
value for money services."